Electronic commerce, such as online shopping, has been increasingly common since the advent of the Internet. Online shopping websites generally provide a user interface for customers to select products to purchase. After the customer has selected products for purchase, the customer typically may choose from multiple payment options to purchase the products.
One conventional payment option generally supported by both merchant storefronts and online merchants is the use of a user financial account, such as a credit card account. To make an online purchase with a credit card, for example, a user will commonly enter necessary credit card information online. For example, a user wishing to purchase a product online will enter an account identifier (such as a credit card number, debit card number, etc.), shipping information, and the name, address, and contact information of the user. To make a purchase at a merchant storefront, the user will typically swipe the card or provide the card to a merchant storefront operator that manually enters the credit card information.
Although the use of user financial accounts to conduct purchase transactions is convenient for both the user and the merchant, relying on user financial accounts to conduct purchase transactions is subject to fraudulent activity. For example, it is becoming increasingly difficult for online shoppers to keep their credit card information confidential and out of the possession of those who would use that information for fraudulent purposes. Likewise, users that keep a physical credit card must worry about theft of the physical card or the information contained thereon. Merchants themselves even present a potential risk to a user, whether through negligence or intentional fraud. For example, an employee of a merchant may submit erroneous transaction information to the financial institution issuing the financial account.
Once a user's financial information is stolen, the user—and the financial institution issuing the financial account—has limited means of determining whether subsequent purchases are legitimate or fraudulent. And while fraud detection systems have been developed that rely on historical transaction data of the user in an attempt to predict subsequent user transactions, the narrow focus of these systems on user transaction history continues to leave users vulnerable to fraud. Such systems are thus inadequate at detecting fraud.